To Fool Death

Name: To Fool Death
Creator: Sisyphus


Description:
Sisyphus, the king and founder of Ephyra (Corinth), was known as the most cunning man on Earth.  He cleverly captured Hades and escaped death twice!  But eventually, he was punished for his indiscretions; he is currently rolling a boulder up a hill, and getting rolled over every time he nears the top of the hill.

The Story: 

1. Zeus, upset that Sisyphus told Asopus that he had kidnapped Aegina, Asopus' daughter, orders Hades to arrest and punish Sisyphus.
2. Hades confronts Sisyphus, and tells him to go to the Underworld with him.
3. Sisyphus notices the special handcuffs that Hades had brought with him and asks him to demonstrate how they work.
4. As Hades demonstrated, Sisyphus snapped the handcuffs on the god, and held him prisoner for a month.
5. Ares is upset that his battles are complete fakes because no one was dying, tracks down Hades and threatens Sisyphus to let him go.
6. Sisyphus finally gives in and returns to the Underworld to Tartarus with Hades.
7. Upon arrival, Sisyphus pleads with Persephone, telling her that he can't die because he had not been properly buried and ferried across the river Styx.
8. Persephone believes him, and lets him return to the Land of the Living for one day so that he can tell his wife to bury him properly.
9. Hades, angry that Sisyphus had not returned, orders Hermes to guide Sisyphus back the the Land of the Dead.
10. When Sisyphus returns to the Underworld, the Judges of the Dead punished Sisyphus by telling him that he can return to the living only if he can push a boulder up a hill.
11. Sisyphus rolls the boulder up the hill.  He is nearly at the top, until the boulder comes crashing down, and he has to start all over again.